1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an element to be used in spinal column or accident surgery for connecting to a rod.
2. Background of the Invention
From U.S. Pat. No. 5,129,388 a pedicle screw is known which comprises a head with a U-shaped recess defining two free legs to accommodate a rod, wherein the legs are provided with an inner thread to receive a fixing screw for fixing the rod. To prevent spreading of the legs a cap is provided embracing the legs.
From U.S. Pat. No. 5,005,562 it is known with a pedicle screw according to the preamble of Patent claim 1 to construct the inner thread and the thread of the screw cooperating with it as a saw-tooth thread, so as in this way to avoid spreading out of the two flanks by completely eliminating the radial components of the force during screwing in.
A saw or else saw-tooth thread of this kind is known from Meyer's Enzyklopäidisches Lexikon, Mannheim, 1974, page 302. From both the specifications U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,605,458 and 5,607,304, concerning implants, it is known with implants of this kind to be introduced into the body, in particular hip implants, also to construct the saw thread in such a way that the flank bearing the load is constructed not only at 90° to the thread axis but even at a negative angle. This is supposed to achieve that the connection obtained with the thread resists a radial relative movement of the connected parts and thus guarantees better fixing of the implant. From EP-A-1 128 773 a pedicle screw is known in which the inner thread of a head accommodating a rod has a negative thread and the screw cooperating with it is correspondingly constructed.
The object of the invention is to create an element of the kind initially described, which is suitable for avoiding the above described disadvantage. In particular bending up of the open ends of a mount of this kind and therefore loosening of the connection between screw and rod should be avoided.